A thermodynamic cycle is a series of thermodynamic processes placed in a closed loop forcing a fluid, most often a gas, to undergo thermodynamic changes in state. Examples of equipment operating with a thermodynamic cycle include refrigerant power units, car engines, air cooling systems, power plants, etc.
The object of all thermodynamic cycles is to use a fluid to transport energy from a first location, found in a first form, to a second location to create a wanted and useful effect, often in a second form. For example, in a car engine, gas is burned in a cylinder to create a pressure wave captured by a cylinder and ultimately transformed into a driving force for a vehicle. In the cylinder, air is used in an open thermodynamic cycle as the fluid. For refrigeration units, the object is to remove heat from a volume, a surface, or a fluid using energy from a compressor. To improve the refrigeration capacity, a compressed gas with phase change can be used in association with heat transfer plates to pump heat from the surface. U.S. Pat. No. 5,186,013 from the inventor of the present disclosure describes such a refrigeration power unit and method of refrigeration. U.S. Pat. No. 5,186,013 is hereby incorporated herein by reference.
For power plants, the object is often to energize a turbine into producing electricity using water or steam as the fluid, which is heated in contact of a heating source such as a reactor or a boiler. Turbines may be equipped with a central cylindrical shaft and radial pales that are forced into rotation by the heated fluid. The fluid operates at a great velocity and associated high pressure, contacts a first surface of turbine pales to create rotational movement around the cylindrical shaft as long as the reverse surface of each pale (i.e., the second surface) is in a relatively depressurized environment. The momentum on the turbine can be calculated as the pressure differential (ΔP) on each pale multiplied by the surface of the pale and the distance of the center of the pale from the shaft.
Fluids in thermodynamic cycles can be quantified at different states either using immediately measurable physical properties of the fluid such as pressure, temperature, or velocity. Cycle states can also be evaluated and quantified using thermodynamic variables created from a plurality of these measurable physical properties. These thermodynamic variables are often better suited to understand the difference in “useful energy” between the different states of the fluid, and these variables include entropy, often referred to as the measure of a system's energy to do work, and enthalpy, or the value of useful work obtainable in heat from a closed thermodynamic system under constant pressure and entropy. Entropy is also described as a form of energy broken down into irretrievable heat in the system.
Within this disclosure, temperatures are shown in degrees Fahrenheit (° F.), pressure is given in pounds per square inch absolute (PSIA) where the absolute measure includes atmospheric pressure, the specific volume of the fluid is given in cubic feet per pound (ft3/lb), enthalpy is given in British thermal unit per pound (BTU/LB), and entropy is given in British thermal unit per pound Rankin (BTU/LB°R). The use of the British unitary system is only exemplary, and any system, such as the metric system, can be used, as well as any combination of systems.
The embodiment described of the current disclosure is directed primarily to the thermodynamic power cycle where no change in phase of the fluid is needed and power is transferred through the fluid at different positions in the cycle based on the stored energy in the transport fluid. One of ordinary skill in the art knows that power cycles can also be used as part of a refrigeration cycle or to energize other types of device, and phase changes along with different fluids can be used based on operating requirement of the thermodynamic cycle.
What is known in the art is the use of a wheel-based turbine with pales on a shaft where pressurized fluid is pushed against the outer portion of the pales to initiate rotation of the turbine around a central shaft, which in turn produces electrical power or energy for refrigeration. In the prior art, once the fluid has delivered its energy to the pale and ultimately the power unit, the fluid is evacuated via conventional means into an exhaust chamber via an exhaust port away from the system (in the case of open loops) or back into the system (in the case of closed loops). What is needed is a power cycle having the capacity to draw greater force from a fluid pressurized at a fixed value without an increase in pressure, temperature, or velocity of the driving fluid. What is also needed is an improved means to evacuate exhaust fluids from the power unit without the need of a specific source of energy to remove the exhaust fluids.